Erickson is pursuing a masters’ degree and is studying the erosion of shocked minerals from the Vredefort structure and their deposition in sediments as a function of distance from the impact site. This unique sedimentary provenance study is designed to assist interpretations of shocked minerals in ancient sediments where all other remnants of the impact event have been erased from the geologic record. Erickson’s thesis advisor is Aaron Cavosie, and he is working with additional collaborators at the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

The Eugene M. Shoemaker Impact Cratering Award is designed to support undergraduate and graduate students, of any nationality, working in any country, in the disciplines of geology, geophysics, geochemistry, astronomy, or biology.

Grants support the study of impact cratering processes on Earth and other bodies in the solar system, including asteroids and comets that produce impacts and the geological, chemical, or biological results of impact cratering.

This award is generously provided by the Planetary Geology Division of the Geological Society of America and administered by the LPI. It commemorates the work of Eugene (“Gene”) Shoemaker, who greatly influenced planetary sciences during the Apollo era and for several decades thereafter, including the discovery of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with his wife Carolyn and colleague David Levy.